In Greek mythology, the Hydra was an ancient nameless serpent-like water beast with reptilian traits and many heads. It's blood was poisonous and the fumes of it's breath so toxic it could kill a man. The Hydra was the offspring of Echidna (half maiden and half serpent) and Typhon (he had 100 heads). The Hydra had the body of a serpent and many heads, as few as three and as many as 100, however, nine is generally seen as standard. Some Hydras are depicted with the body of a dragon including legs and wings while others are depicted with the body of a giant serpent and multiple snake heads. I have combined the two giving it the body of the snake and the heads of the dragon. The Hydra was the guardian of the under water entrance to the Underworld. A fearsome creature, the only way to kill the beast was to cut off all of it's heads. However, to complicate matters, as soon as one head was cut off, two heads grew back to replace it! None the less, the beast was killed by Heracles, he fired flaming arrows into the Hydra's lair (a deep cave) to draw it out. He then confronted the Hydra - but quickly realized the he could not defeat the Hydra by merely cutting off it's heads, so he called his nephew, and as Heracles cut off the Hydra's heads, his nephew used a firebrand to cauterize each neck stump before another head could regrow. Heracles then dipped his arrows into the poisonous blood of the Hydra and used them to kill the Centaur, but that is another story. The monsters of Greek mythology are a favorite subject of mine and I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoy drawing them.
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Gallery of Images
- ALICE
- ANGEL
- BLACK CAT
- BLACK STALLION
- CELTIC COAT OF ARMS
- CELTIC CROSS
- COMPASS ROSE
- DEMON / PHOENIX
- DRAGON - NORSE
- DRAGON - WESTERN
- DRAGONFLY
- DREAM CATCHER
- EAGLE 1
- EAGLE 2
- EGYPTIAN
- ELEPHANT
- EYE OF rA / HORUS
- FAIRY DRAGON RIDER
- FAIRY DREAMS
- FALCON IN FLIGHT
- GRIFFIN
- HIPPOCAMPUS AND THE NEREIDE
- HUMMINGBIRD
- HYDRA
- IRON BUTTERFLY
- JURASSIC PARK
- KRAKEN
- LION
- LIZARD
- MAMMOTH
- MEDUSA I
- MEDUSA II
- MINOTAUR
- ORCA
- PANTHER IN A TREE
- PEGASUS
- PEREGRINE
- RAVEN
- SABER CAT
- SAMURAI
- SIREN OF THE SEA
- TEMPLAR
- TOTEMS of the FIRST PEOPLE
- TREE OF LIFE
- TYRANNOSAURUS REX
- UNICORN
- VAMPIRE
- WOLF
- WYVERN
- ZEBRA
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